Emergency Fundraising Appeal / Logistical and tactical update

posted by Ass ole | 7pt
January 17, 2005

Emergency Fundraising AppealLogistical and tactical update

It is a great but partial victory that we have secured an area for a mass assembly protest right along the inaugural parade route. The permitted site at 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW (north side) holds 10,000-20,000 people. We will be having a fired up, energetic event at the parade route, including music and a people's speak out. This permitted demonstration space allows for a significant sound system as well as bleachers. There is no way that George Bush and the world media can ignore the antiwar movement right at the site of the inaugural parade route.

The National Park Service and the Secret Service have done everything in their power to stop this from happening, and even now they are imposing last minute restrictions and obstacles that have significantly increased the cost of our sound system and bleacher set up. At every turn the government has changed its story about what will be allowed. They have waited until the last possible moment to issue a permit. Since the permit is only obtained in hand now we have been forced to renegotiate the contract with sound and bleacher contractors.

The government hoped that they would wind the clock down or make it impossible to carry out our permitted rally, including a bleacher area and large sound system. But we will not let them succeed.

IMPORTANT LOGISTICAL AND TACTICAL UPDATE

We have surveyed the inaugural parade route and it is obvious that the U.S. government, working on behalf of the Bush/Cheney PIC, is setting up a system of check points, fences and other structures to make access to the parade route extremely difficult, particularly as the crowds of people increase throughout the day. To access 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave., you will have to pass through a check point on either 3rd St. south of C St. (one block north of Pennsylvania Ave.) or on 7th St. between D St. and Indiana Ave. (one block north of Pennsylvania Ave.). As crowds grows, the lines at the check points will become increasingly long and walking from these check points to 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. will become increasingly difficult.

We encourage everyone to arrive as close to 9 am as possible - this will be critical in accessing the mass convergence, speakers, rally and antiwar bleachers. If you need to arrive somewhat later than 9 am, you should definitely make every effort to get to 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. as soon as possible. Be persistent!

Click here for an updated map that shows the inaugural route, 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW, the exits for the closest metro station (Judiciary Square on the red line), the location of the check points, and how to walk from them to the mass rally area.

BUS DROP OFF

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has secured bus drop off on H St. between 4th and 5th Sts. NW. Buses can pull up on the north or south side of H St. and drop off passengers. From there, people should walk to H and 3rd Sts. NW (one block), then turn right on 3rd St. and walk five blocks to the C St. checkpoint. This area is visible on the updated map (see above).

The bus can proceed to parking and after the rally people should take the metro back to their bus. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Logistics Page contains updated information on bus parking, explicit metro directions from 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. to the bus parking lot, and maps of the DC metro system.